On known packing machines, the cigarettes are housed in bulk inside a hopper having a number of substantially vertical outlets, down each of which the cigarettes travel by force of gravity to form, on a bottom stop plate, a column, a bottom portion of which is defined by an orderly group of cigarettes defining the content of a packet and positioned facing a lateral output opening of the outlet. By means of a pusher, the group is then transferred through the lateral output opening and a tubular connecting member into a respective pocket on a conveyor operated in steps so as to position, at each step, an empty pocket with its input facing a respective tubular connecting member.
When transferring the groups, clogging may occur due to incorrect positioning of the cigarettes, thus calling for normally manual intervention to clear the clogged areas.
On known packing machines, the tubular connecting members of the lateral output openings of the hopper outlets are only accessible externally through the respective conveyor pockets, so that the packing machine must be stopped to clear any one of the tubular connecting members.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a packing machine designed to eliminate the aforementioned drawbacks.
According to the present invention, there is provided a cigarette packing machine comprising an input hopper having at least two outlets, each of which has a respective lateral output opening for a respective succession of groups of cigarettes; conveying means comprising a number of pockets, each for receiving a respective said group from a respective said output opening, and for feeding the group in a given direction; and, for each said outlet, a transfer unit for transferring each relative said group from the relative output opening to the relative said pocket through a respective access to the pocket; the transfer unit comprising connecting means for connecting the relative said output opening to the relative said access; characterized in that each said transfer unit also comprises actuating means for moving said connecting means between a connecting work position and a maintenance position in which said connecting means are accessible from outside.